Despite playing without two starters, Minnesota’s women’s basketball team looked ready for the regular season in its exhibition debut.
The Gophers cruised to an 89-41 victory over Wisconsin AAU on Wednesday at Williams Arena.
Minnesota coach Pam Borton announced after the game that junior forward Jamie Broback is taking a personal leave of absence from the team for an undisclosed amount of time.
Senior point guard April Calhoun was previously out with a foot injury, leaving Minnesota without two main contributors from last year’s team.
But even without Broback and Calhoun, the Gophers were impressive from the start.
Minnesota started the game on a 12-0 run and held the Rangers scoreless until 13:16 remaining in the first half.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect tonight,” senior guard Shannon Schonrock said. “But I think it was a great start to the season. I think a lot of people stepped up.”
Four Gophers – Schonrock, Lauren Lacey, Kelly Roysland, and Natasha Williams – scored in double figures, led by Lacey, who came off the bench to score a game-high 17 points.
Williams looked as if she is able fill the role of the now-departed Janel McCarville, grabbing 16 rebounds.
“It’s a team and collective group that has to go out there and rebound,” Williams said. “It just happened that I was going after it tonight.”
One of Minnesota’s strengths this season might already be clear, as the team shot a combined 15 of 18 from the free-throw line for 83.3 percent.
Every Minnesota player in uniform got on the floor and was ready to play, capped by little-used Hannah Garry, who came off the end of the bench to dive on the floor in the final seconds of play.
“We saw a lot of things that us coaches were very pleased with,” Borton said. “For our first outing, I was very pleased with our effort and intensity.
“We have the potential to be better than we were last year.”
Three early signees
Borton announced three members of her 2006-2007 recruiting class Wednesday.
Korinne Campbell of Lawrenceville, N.J.; Brittany McCoy of Lincolnwood, Ill.; and Breanna Salley of St. Francis all signed National Letters of Intent to join the Gophers next season.
Kelly Mullaney of Breck High School is also expected to sign.
